[Sca-cooks] Cinnamon

[DragonTamer]

> It seems as if, as with the lady allergic to onions, you just lucked
> out and ran into a feast that called for a.lot of cinnamon. While
> there are a huge number of medieval European dishes that call for
> cinnamon, there are many that don't.  I don't recall using any at the
> 12th Night feast I worked on a few weeks ago.

I did talk to the cook beforehand (as in several weeks) and was forewarned
of the cinnamon content, so I wasn't surprised, much to our chiurgeon's
pleasure, I'm sure! And yes, it was just bad luck that this particular feast
had much cinnamon.

> Now, the question is, are you allergic to both cassia (which is what
> a lot of what is sold as cinnamon actually is) _and_ true cinnamon,
> or one, or the other?

Since cassia (bought from the store) closes my bronchial tubes (think asthma
attack), I've been somewhat reluctant to experiment and see if "true"
cinnamon sets off the reaction. Understandably, I hope! Recently, I was
serving a feast that a dish smelled absolutely wonderful, and seeing the
little brown flecks, I asked the Cook for the ingredients. Yes, cinnamon was
on the list, but since it IS January, and I'd been allergy free, thereby
having fully open bronchii I took a chance. BAD idea. This particular dish
didn't agree with my palate OR my bronchii. Darn. I was able to get outside
where the shock of the cold air (I left my inhaler at home......mundane,
right? NEVER again) was enough to keep things tolerable. M'Lord husband told
me that in the future, no inhaler, no cinnamon. Period. *Sigh* I agree, it
isn't worth the risk, even if the dish smelled really good.

> If you can eat one but not the other, you could easily substitute.
> It's not exactly the same, but there has to be a reasonable
> resemblance for most people's palates for the substitution to be made
> on such an industrial scale.

Agreed, I wasn't suggesting that a head cook change her plans on my account.

> If you're allergic to both, there are certainly plenty of dishes that
> don't call for cinnamon. You can check any of a scad of available
> recipe sources to get an idea, and either cook them, or make
> suggestions regarding them to your feast cooks, or better yet, both:
> try them out and _then_ discuss them with your feast cooks.

Well, I prepare very little at home that needs cinnamon. Cinnamon rolls, cuz
the kids just love them. Oh well, can't win them all. Most of the time if a
recipe calls for cinnamon, I just leave it out. Nobody here misses it.

Properly worded: Is there a particular reason that cinnamon was used so
heavily in the Middle Ages?
Next question: Why does every modern recipe that has apples in it have
cinnamon in it?

Amanda Blackwolf